Matt Drouin - Commercial Real Estate

Matt Drouin - Commercial Real Estate I help experienced Real Estate Investors🚶walk from their W-2s in less than 2 years.

ROC Real Capital turns savvy, informed Rochester area urbanites ďťżinto successful homeowners, investors, and sellers.

08/28/2026

You could be wasting THOUSANDS on attorney fees every time you close a commercial real estate deal.

And the crazy part? You may not know what the bill is going to be until right before closing.

One thing I learned years ago: negotiate the legal fee BEFORE you engage the attorney.

Before they start working on the deal, I want to establish:

→ The scope of work
→ What’s included (and what isn’t)
→ A flat fee or expected fee range
→ What circumstances could cause that fee to increase

Otherwise, every phone call, email, document revision, and back-and-forth can keep the meter running.

And when you’re finally 24 hours from closing?

💥 Surprise: Here’s your legal bill.

Your attorney is an important part of your commercial real estate team. That doesn’t mean their fee shouldn’t be negotiated.

Define the scope. Negotiate the fee. Do it BEFORE the work starts.

Follow me for more strategies on buying, financing, and operating larger commercial real estate deals.

08/27/2026

I just got the phone call, no landlord wants to get…

Unfortunately, if you’ve been in this business long enough, you are going to have to deal with a tenant who’s passed away.

In my case I’ve dealt with this over a dozen times in my 20 year career.

This is what I do.

In my case it’s a commercial tenant so it’s especially harder because I’ve known this person for about 10 years…

I know this is a morbid subject but everyone is going to deal with it if you’ve been doing it long enough…

08/24/2026

Single-tenant triple net real estate looks safe… until it isn’t.

20-year lease.
Corporate guarantee.
Tenant pays the expenses.
“Mailbox money.”

Sounds pretty good.

But there’s a risk many investors overlook:

You’re putting 100% of the property’s income in the hands of ONE tenant.

And sometimes you’re paying a massive premium for the privilege.

The Take 5 property I discuss in this video sold for more than $1,500/SF — roughly 3–4X replacement cost.

At that point, you’re not really paying for the bricks and mortar.

You’re paying for the lease.

So what happens if that tenant goes bankrupt, closes the location, rejects the lease, or simply doesn’t renew?

Your occupancy can go from:

100% → 0%.

I filmed part of this video in front of a former Rite Aid that went dark after bankruptcy.

A perfect reminder that a lot can change in 20 years.

Hell…a lot can change in 5 years.

If I wanted more passive exposure to commercial real estate, I’d rather consider:

1️⃣ A diversified NNN REIT/fund with exposure to multiple tenants, brands and markets.

OR

2️⃣ A small retail strip plaza near a hard corner with multiple tenants paying rent.

Lose one tenant?

It hurts.

It doesn’t kill the property.

Passive doesn’t automatically mean low risk.

The question is:

Where is the risk hiding?

Watch the full Reel for the breakdown.

08/20/2026

The incomes are too damn low!

I just looked back on all of our pre applications over the last 30 days and was flabbergasted.

160+ inquiries on 2 apartments where the applicants had shot credit and basically no income!

Anybody else out there seeing this?

08/18/2026

30 UNITS. ONE DEAL. ONE YEAR.

What takes some investors a decade of buying small properties one at a time, James Diamond just accomplished with one transaction.

James recently closed on a 30-unit apartment building.

Like a lot of investors, he started small.

Property #1.
Then #2.
Then #3.

And eventually realized:

“At this pace, this is going to take forever.”

I know the feeling. I spent the first 11 years of my investing career believing the only way to grow was one small deal at a time.

It works.

But it can also keep you extremely busy making chump change.

James decided to take a different path.

He hired us to help him Go Bigger! Sooner.

The truth is, most experienced investors are ready for bigger deals much sooner than they think.

You don’t necessarily need more experience.

You need a new framework for finding, financing, underwriting, and closing bigger opportunities — without making your own cash the bottleneck.

Is it easy?

Hell no.

That’s why my partner Vlad Mir and I act as the sherpas: helping our clients map the route, avoid the landmines, and climb their own real estate Mount Everest.

James made the climb.

And now he owns 30 more units because of it.

This fall, Vlad and I are hosting a workshop on how experienced investors can make the jump into bigger commercial real estate deals.

Want an invite?

Drop “GO BIG” below. 👇

07/11/2026

If you’re not a member get involved today. I learned information that immediately stopped the bleeding in an area of my business I didn’t even know existed from one conversation. Get in the room. Reach out to become a member.

BUSTED! 🚨🚔 WHAT ARE WE CHARGED WITH?Count 1: Raising too much capital.Count 2: Finding too many off-market deals.Count 3...
07/01/2026

BUSTED! 🚨

🚔 WHAT ARE WE CHARGED WITH?

Count 1: Raising too much capital.

Count 2: Finding too many off-market deals.

Count 3: Having too much experience.

And as for our fourth accomplice…

We’re still looking for someone willing to do the time.

😅

All kidding aside, this is one of the biggest mistakes investors make when choosing a partner.

They ask:

“Do I like this person?”

Instead of asking:

“What do they actually bring to the table?”

Every successful partnership is built on one or more of four things:

💰 Capital
🏢 Opportunity
🧠 Experience
⏰ Time

If someone isn’t bringing at least one of those…

They’re probably bringing problems.

At our upcoming panel discussion, Randy Spurling, Marty Grizzanti, and I are going to unpack how we’ve structured partnerships over the years—including the good, the bad, and the expensive mistakes that taught us the most.

Because the right partner can multiply your success.

The wrong one can become a life sentence.

See you there. July 9th 5:30 @ Golisano IBE

Hit me up for your free ticket or drop a “FFREIA” below 👇

06/26/2026

Psyched out of my mind to co panel this upcoming event with some local real estate titans!

Drop a comment if you want to register and I’ll get you signed up!

—————————————————————-

The biggest deals of my career were never built alone.

Not the million-dollar commercial acquisitions.
Not the historic redevelopment projects.
Not the deals that changed my financial future.

Every one of them required the right people around the table.

The truth is, partnerships can become the fastest path to scaling your real estate business…

Or the fastest way to lose money, friendships, and years of progress.

On Thursday, July 9th, I’ll be joining an incredible panel at FFREIA to talk openly about what actually makes partnerships work.

We’ll cover:
✅ How to find the right partners
✅ How to structure deals so everyone wins
✅ The biggest mistakes we’ve made (so you don’t have to)
✅ When you should partner… and when you absolutely shouldn’t

No theory. No fluff. Just real-world lessons from investors who have been through the wins, the setbacks, and everything in between.

Whether you’re looking to buy your first multifamily, your first commercial property, or simply want to scale faster than you can on your own, I think you’ll walk away with ideas you can put to work immediately.

📅 Thursday, July 9
🕠 5:30 PM
📍 Golisano Institute
🎟️ Free for members. Guests are welcome.

If you’ve been thinking about partnering on your next deal, this is one meeting you won’t want to miss.

06/08/2026

“The rents are too damn low.”

I know that sounds insane during a housing crisis.

But hear me out.

Years ago, I served on the Mayor’s Housing Quality Task Force. After reviewing the local housing data, I realized something uncomfortable:

You cannot talk seriously about housing quality without talking seriously about rising incomes.

Someone challenged me and said:

“Well, if people make more money, rents will just go up.”

My response?

“Yes. That’s the point.”

Not because I want people squeezed.

Because I want housing to actually work.

Here’s the math:

If every Rochester household earned $10,000 more per year, that’s roughly $960M in new household income.

If 30% went toward housing, that’s $250/month more per household.

Citywide, that’s about $288M/year in new housing affordability.

At a 7% cap rate, that supports roughly $4.1B in housing value.

At $330k/unit, that could pencil approximately 12,000 new housing units.

Without subsidy.

And the remaining $7,000/year per household?

That’s $672M in added spending capacity.

If half gets spent locally, that’s $336M flowing into local businesses.

At 8% sales tax, that’s nearly $27M/year in new sales tax revenue.

This is why housing policy is income policy.

If incomes are too low, rents feel too high to tenants — while still being too low to support new construction, renovations, maintenance, taxes, insurance, and reinvestment.

That’s the contradiction nobody wants to talk about.

The same rent can be unaffordable to the tenant and still not enough to make housing financially viable.

The strongest housing subsidy isn’t always another government program.

Sometimes it’s a better paycheck.

My little girl Holly Jolly got the opportunity to earn some cash yesterday! 26 bucks and 75 cents!This all happened bec...
06/05/2026

My little girl Holly Jolly got the opportunity to earn some cash yesterday! 26 bucks and 75 cents!

This all happened because while Nicole was putting our son down for a nap, Holly conspired with Aunt Danae on what to do with the dozen or so lemons and random gluten free Trader Joe’s cookie dough in the fridge!

Thanks to the stoners who drove by and paid $15 for two lemonades and three cookies lol

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